James Nicoll Reviews

One Foot in the Fade by Luke Elliot Arnold

Welcome back to the streets of Sunder City, a darkly imagined world perfect for readers of Ben Aaronovitch and Jim Butcher. AN ANGEL FALLS IN SUNDER CITY… In a city that lost its magic, an angel falls in a downtown street. His wings are feathered, whole — undeniably magical — the man clearly flew, because he left one hell of a mess when he plummeted into the sidewalk. But what sent him up? What brought him down? And will the answers help Fetch bring the magic back for good? Working alongside necromancers, genies, and shadowy secret societies, through the wildest forests and dingiest dive bars, this case will leave its mark on Fetch’s body, his soul, and the fate of the world. 

Heat Wave by TJ Klune

Heat Wave is the explosive finale to the thrilling and ​“uproariously funny” (Sophie Gonzales) Extraordinaries trilogy by New York Times and USA Today bestselling author TJ Klune!Nick, Seth, Gibby, and Jazz are back in action bringing justice, protection, and disaster energy to the people of Nova City. An unexpected hero returns to Nova City and crash lands into Nick’s home, upturning his life, his family, and his understanding of what it means to be a hero in the explosive finale of the thrilling and hilarious Extraordinaries trilogy by New York Times bestselling author TJ Klune.

Kalyna the Soothsayer by Elijah Kinch Spector

From debut novelist Elijah Kinch Spector comes Kalyna the Soothsayer, a thrilling tale in the vein of Spinning Silver and The Traitor Baru Cormorant following a young, brash ​“clairvoyant” con artist who must prophesize her way out of peril. Every member of Kalyna’s family has the Gift: the ability to see the future. For generations, they traveled the four kingdoms of the Tetrarchia selling their services as soothsayers. Every child of their family is born with this Gift — everyone except Kalyna. For years, Kalyna has supported her father — whose grip on reality is straining under the weight of his confused visions of the future — and her cruel grandmother on the strength of her wits, using informants and trickery to falsify prophecies for coin, and scrounge together a living for them all. But it’s getting harder every year. And poverty turns to danger when, on the strength of her reputation for prophecy, Kalyna is pressed into service by Lenz, the spymaster to the prince of Rotfelsen. Lenz orders Kalyna to use her ​“Gift,” to uncover threats against Rotfelsen’s king, and holds her family hostage against her good behavior. But Rotfelsenisch politics are devious, the king’s enemies abound, and Kalyna’s skills for investigation and deception are tested to the limit. Worse, the conspiracy she does begin to uncover points to a larger threat, not only to the King of Rotfelsen but to all four monarchs at their annual governing council — which falls on precisely the same day that Kalyna’s father has prophesied the catastrophic collapse of the whole Tetrarchia. Kalyna is determined to protect her family and her newfound friends — and to save the Tetrarchia, too. But as she is drawn deeper into palace intrigue, she can no longer tell if her manipulations are helping prevent the Tetrarchia’s destruction — or if her lies will bring about its prophesized downfall.